Xinjiang - The Silk Road: Islam's Overland Route to China

As a filmmaker, Yung penetrated the ""multi-national, multi-religious and multi-lingual'' Xinjiang province in western China and traveled the region's Silk Road, the ancient conduit for goods, art and religion between China, the Middle East and Europe. The awesome natural scenery of deserts and mountain ranges is captured in native myths as well as in Yung's color photographs, and readers can view the Heavenly Lake where the Fairy Queen of the West is said to have washed her feet. Xinjiang is a Moslem stronghold, and the work features a number of mosques, decorated with engraved pillars, geometric carvings and blue, gold and green ceramic-tiled mosaics. Unfortunately, the volume is poorly organized, and the color pictures are lumped together rather than adjacent to corresponding narrative. Readers will espy the diversity and charm of China's minority tribes (e.g., the nomadic Kazaks, or Cossaks, and Tajiks) but ultimately will confuse their colorful customs, dress and architecture. (April)